I was asked a question of whether we have loss of seeds to the birds…no, not really. Since it is very important that all the seeds take –we take extra precautions. Pheasants, Quail, other birds and anybody else that might like to dig up and eat a seed, such as mice and squirrels, raccoon and skunks, we provide a lunch buffet near the end of the field and in selected spots around the edges of the field.
What we do is take any old corn that didn’t make it to market….spread it out by the bucket fulls along the edges. With that much food available we just don’t have hungry critters hitting the rows and digging up the seeds.
We DO have trouble with Deer, Raccoon and skunks went the corn ears get to the ‘just right to eat’ stage. Deer love the silks and the ear, the others love just the fresh ear of corn.
That is where the dogs come in handy. We have had enough trouble just before harvest that we have used a boom gun before…it runs on propane and shoots off a huge SOUND every thirty minutes. The neighbors that don’t farm always get upset at that, but it isn’t a real gun, only a sound and we only have to do it for a week. Then when we see damage we do it again for a few days until the corn is too dry for the animal to chew up comfortably.
Please remember we do not raise sweet corn, but corn for feed and for meal….corn meal. Sweet corn is picked and then rushed along to market at just the perfect stage. Our corn keeps growing until it dries way down in the fall.
So, no we really don’t have trouble with the birds taking the seed out of the ground. The Redwing blackbirds that are following us right now are bathing and playing in the water furrows. They are having a great time!
Thank you, Dear Readers, for your questions. The nice thing about this wide, vast blog world is we are all learning how each of us live in our little spot on the globe. Its all extremely fascinating.
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 
thanks for the education on the feed corn drying on the cob. and pretty cool that you can avoid a lot of seed loss by giving them what they want on the edges of the fields. 🙂
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Do you ever make your own cornmeal? I bet it’s good when it’s fresh.
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Birds will bathe where ever there is water! I hope your weather has settled down..the beans should be up soon. The farmers are not in the fields here yet, the ground is still frozen..there is still snow in the woods and shady areas:)
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That was interesting…I love that you provide the birds their own buffet! I know that the vineyards around where we lived in Oregon use that kind of gun noise to discourage birds (crows mostly).
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Test
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Thanks again for teaching me something new!! I think I need a boom gun…don’t know what I would use it for but it sounds fun to have. ha!
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I love your idea of leaving lunches so they won’t eat what is important to you.
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Another interesting post. Never thought of feeding them until they are too full to do any damage. I love it.
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Having been a farm kid I had never given a thought to birds taking seeds that have been seeded. We have lots of birds enjoying insects that have been disturbed but no thieves if seeds. When I think of it there could be other things that cause more losses.
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Here, some farmers have planted and some have not. Not sure what those farmers will plant. Others have planted corn.
Good post. Thanks for the feeding tip!
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Ah Linda, great minds think alike!
I’ve never had trouble with sparrows eating my wisteria, and yet I’ve even heard people on radio suggesting sprinkling pepper on the flowers and all that sort of mean thing! Since I feed the sparrows they’re not hungry enough to eat my wisteria!
When I have flowers like petunias that the snails eat, I put out lettucse leaves for them, and never have any trouble!!!
You’re right, we all learn so much about other places in the world with our blogs… and I’m always learning from yours…
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How neat!
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Looks like the ground is dry enough. Glad to hear the only problem is the four legged ones, but sometimes they are worse! Especially if the skunk variety get to close to the homestead. 🙂
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I love your photography and learning about farm life. I do it on a small scale here in the hills of Kamiah, ID. I have family in Grand Junction too so your area draws me. Thanks for sharing.
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